THUNDER: Gene Michaels talks about evolution of player evaluation

TAMPA, Fla. — Gene Michael has just about done it all with the Yankees. He’s played in their system, managed the team twice, and was their general manager twice. Currently, he’s a senior vice president and special adviser with the team, and can quite often be found in the stands at Arm & Hammer Park.

The Trentonian caught up with him at Steinbrenner Field before Thursday’s game with the Twins and asked a few questions about how things have changed in the decades since he first started evaluating players.

JN: Since you started doing this, how has player evaluation changed?

GM: The more games you see a player, the better off I think you are. You always look for the tendencies, and if you’re doing advanced scouting, you’re looking for tendencies on how to pitch them, how to play against them. If you’re doing player evaluation, you’re looking for the assets of a player. In other words, how much he can help your team or how valuable he is. Those are the things you look at, basically.

Advertisement

You look at the arm, what kind of runner (he is), what kind of power. You grade all these, but then you have to look at the numbers that they put up. That means a lot. That’s a big indicator. I like players that take a lot of pitches at the plate. I like players that walk a lot. High on-base, naturally, is a huge thing. Slugging percentage is another one. You add them up and get the OPS. That’s important, to add up the on-base and the slug. That tells you a lot about the value.

Then you look at players to find out, if you can guess at it and (your view) tells you enough, what kind of concentration they have. Can the play in New York? That’s a big thing, and you never know for sure. That’s for the players.

Then for the pitchers, you look at the numbers. Those are very important. Then you look at the durability. You look at what kind of ballpark they were pitching in before. That’s the same thing with hitters – you get your hitters out of pitchers’ parks and get your pitchers out of hitters’ parks. That’s a big thing.

You always look at how you think they’ll do in the future, and then you look at it and see if you can guess at it intelligently and see if they can concentrate deeply. That’ll tell you something (about) if they can play in New York.

– For more of this interview, go to www.minormatterstrenton.blogspot.com